“Marius”

Bristol is only the 10th largest city in England, but it’s a bustling hub for producers on the cutting edge of dance music, with Batu, and his label Timedance, front and center. Batu makes bass music that is crisp and gregarious, but also pleasingly ever-shifting. His songs often cycle through several forms in a matter of minutes, finding new discoveries at every turn. The title track from the producer’s new EP, Marius, is a masterclass in fun and quirky dance music.

“Marius” is subtle, it’s bass rumbling on a subatomic level. Batu reserves action for notes at higher pitches, where scintillating bells and metallic textures glimmer with a delicate touch. The sound design on “Marius” is exceptional, and the track itself has all the sophistication of a three-dimensional object, with instrumentation that doesn’t just rattle, but expands, contracts, and moves in all these interesting ways. Heavier beats bump up against sharp melodies, and moments of silence are peppered in to add tension. Balanced on a knife’s edge, “Marius” is soft but deadly.